THE ALLOTTED SPAN.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4785, 5 December 1924, Page 4

THE ALLOTTED SPAN.

111E011Y AND TRACT ICE. ACTION OF MODERN CONDITIONS. ’ Theoretically man should enjoy a much longer span of life than the traditional three score years and ten. Aetna'ly, the large majority of city men do not do so for the reason»that under modern conditions the average citizen exhausts, in mere fussiness, his energies for sheer want of common Sense or will power. Exhaustion if nervous and mental energies does not imply that the victim haw a useful life. His breakdown is seldom attributable to hard work, but ordinarily to this fussiness which is one of the curses of modern city life. The social conditions of the city of to-day —-the bustle of business life, the hustle. the clash and clatter .and rattle el traffic, the clamour of the streets — tend to aggravate nervous overstrain. This overstrain may be counteracted in a measure by .the temperament of the man, but the calm and unrullled temperament is becoming rarer in the ordinary centre. The evils of nerve strain were multiplied during the war years. The very form of relief sought in recreation that amounted to feverish dissipation constituted r.ot even a palliative The hysteria on the termination of hostilities marked a climax, but the people of die average city did not readily return —and have not yet returned—even to the more placid conditions of pre-war years. The Australian city, in insane and unhealthy huistle, may not have leached the pitch of the greater American cities, though the life of. sucn cities as Sydney or 'Melbourne resembles that of the American centres, and the resemblance grows more pronounced from year to year. In a sense the nervousness —the hustle of the majority of citizens—may express the struggle for existence, the fiercer competition among men engaged in commercial, pursuits, whether as employers or employees, and their efforts to hold their own under the conditions and exactions of modern life. The average city man actively engaged ffi business from the start of his journey to his office or shop in the morning till his return in the evening. His own nervous temperament is possibly inherited from generations of city men under the conditions of industrial life since the first application of steam, the development of machinery., and the revolution in industrial and commercial life within the last century. The : nervous strain, and the weakness of will, which allow the ordinary city man to fall a victim to this mere fussiness, indubitably contribute to the weakening vf the race as of the individual. The very benefits wnich haye been won for mankind Ly science are defeated by the evils of civilisation —the strain demanded in order to keep pace with modern conditions, the hustle and bustle, and the removal of man from his natural environment to the artificial life of the great city. The city dweller may be envied by the countryman, but the advantages from the standpoint of health are all, with the l.attei. The conditions. under which lie works on the land, the healthy if hard toil in the open air, and the steady routine, tend inevitably to longevity, of which the city worker robs himself. The irony, from the city man's standpoint, is that alj the worry or hustle, does not increase, his efficiency. The more people fuss the more they waste their natural energies. The man who fusises constantly over his work is steadily expending and reducing his efficiency. iHc js impaiihig his health, and cm the slightest symptoms of ailment lie worries to such a degree as to render his restoration the more difficult; his nervous temperament makes, it impossible, for him to do otherwise. To counteract the strain of city life and

the effect of congested living conditions the medical man naturally urges the-benefits of the open air and the change to the country. To repair the damage to the system from the luxuries within reach of the many he prescribes the simple and restricted diet. For the modern city dweller who is the victim of nerves the soundtst of advice is simply not w fuss. Mere fussiness doubtless does more injury and impairs the efficiency of individual and community to a greater degree than any fallacy or pha.se of modern life. Endeavours co overcome the evils of social conditions of the time should include as a feature of our educational system studied development from youth up of the will power, by which the nervous strain resulting from the hustle of modern life will be corrected.